THE HYPE MUMBA'S THE WORD IRISH TEEN SINGER GETS CAREER 'N SYNC, JUST IN 'TIME'.

It must be the luck of the Irish because ever since Samantha Mumba's debut album ``Gotta Tell You'' was re-released in America this spring, the Dublin teen-ager has happened on one pot of gold after another.

So what has the 18-year-old discovered at the end of pop music's rainbow this time?

Try an opening slot on this summer's 'N Sync tour, and an acting debut opposite Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons in producer Steven Spielberg's Christmas Day release, ``The Time Machine.''

``I've been very lucky,'' says Mumba, fresh from shooting her first feature film role and currently hitting it off with America's hottest boy group.

'N Sync pull into the Rose Bowl on July 24 with Mumba in tow.

Mumba says that while on tour, she and the guys ``mess about on the bus'' and crack each other up constantly. She isn't willing to divulge any details except to say that ``we have on-stage conversations that the audience doesn't even know we're having.

``Things like that can be quite funny.''

Going on tour with 'N Sync is supposed to be Mumba's big chance to introduce her music to a broader audience. But as it turns out, she's not at all a stranger to the tens of thousands of screaming fans who pack the stadiums each night.

In fact, the audience knows most of her songs - ``Gotta Tell You,'' ``Baby Come on Over,'' ``Body II Body'' - by heart.

``To have people singing your songs back at you just blows you away,'' Mumba says. ``It's pretty cool.''

The album ``Gotta Tell You'' was originally released in August 2000. But many of the album's tracks were recorded a year or two before, and no longer sounded like Mumba.

Her voice had changed. So she returned to the studio to recut some of the songs and to add a bit more funk to the overall album, re-released in March.

On the album, Mumba shares a number of the songwriting credits. Although she considers all the songs her babies, her current favorite is ``The Boy,'' written by another team of songwriters.

Performing the song on stage makes it more special for Mumba because she is joined by her 12-year-old brother, Omero, a rapper and budding actor in his own right.

Also along for the tour is her mother, whom Mumba says she rarely sees anymore because of their busy schedules.

``I've been spoiled now because I am so used to them being on the road with me; when they're not, I'll miss them,'' she says. ``But my brother's now doing his own thing, and he'll be getting his own record deal soon. So when I go home, he and my mom will probably be on the road or something.''

Mumba returns to the road shortly after her stint with 'N Sync. She will be traveling through Europe and then it's off to Australia.

``The songs have gone triple-platinum in Australia and I haven't even been there yet,'' she says. ``So I really have to try and get around to the rest of the world.''

Mumba also plans to go into the studio to write and cut new material for the soundtrack to ``The Time Machine,'' a movie she'll be promoting later this year.

The movie, based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, is the story of a scientist (Pearce) whose determination to prove that time travel is possible turns to desperation after a personal tragedy.

Instead of going back to repair what was done, however, he is accidentally hurtled 800,000 years in the future to a time where man hunts man.

That's where Mumba comes in, starring as a mother of a young boy - her brother plays her son - from a race of people known as the Eloi.

``She's a very, very strong character,'' says Mumba, who has acted before but ``certainly nothing on a DreamWorks level.

``I guess you could just call it luck.''

- Sandra Barrera

GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

STEP RIGHT UP ... AGAIN: One of the challenges facing Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is to convince the families who attended their circus last season to come again this year. So producer Kenneth Feld must try to strike a delicate balance (like one of the troupe's lithe gymnasts), keeping enough tried-and-true material to uphold the tradition and adding enough new stuff to bring back repeat customers. The 131st edition, playing Wednesday through Sunday at the Great Western Forum, sets itself apart from last year's tour with tiger and elephant wrangling by Mark Oliver Gebel, son of legendary tamer Gunther Gebel-Williams; high-flying skiing and snowboarding stunts by the Blizzard Battalion; and the elephant-and-clown duo of Bo and Bello. Its new music with a Latin flair will be especially well-suited to the Spanish-language performances at the Los Angeles Sports Arena July 25-29. The circus also will play the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim July 31-Aug. 5. One hour before each showtime is the Three Ring Adventure, when ticket holders can see performers and animals up close and meet the clowns as they don their makeup. For tickets and information, call [phone] or go to www.ringling.com on the Web.

- Valerie Kuklenski

FILMING DOWN MEXICO WAY

REVOLUTION: Salma Hayek, who will star in and executive produce ``In the Time of Butterflies,'' based on the true story of a group of sisters who led a resistance against Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leonid Trujillo, in the early '60s, said her film was shot in her native Mexico because the industry there is enjoying something of a renaissance.

``Mexico is going through a very exciting time right now,`` says Hayek, who is also starring in the upcoming Miramax Film's ``Frida,'' based on the life of feminist painter Frida Kahlo. That film, too, was shot in Mexico.

``Butterflies,'' which also stars Edward James Olmos as Trujillo, will air on Showtime later this year.

``A couple of years ago, there were only eight or nine movies produced in Mexico,'' Hayek told reporters Thursday at the Television press tour in Pasadena. ``This year, they're doing 40. Something is happening there. There is a new generation of filmmakers in Mexico, and the industry is growing very rapidly. We have a bunch of talent that was not utilized before that is emerging and growing and becoming really, really, good. Our cinematographer was Mexican; the production designer was Mexican. So, yes, we hired Mexicans and I really think it added to the production value.''

- David Kronke

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(1) no caption (Samantha Mumba)

(2) no caption (circus performer)